The Darker side of Love
by Leighlei
Summary: RE2, LeonXOC. AU. What would have happened if there had been a different girl in the police station instead of Claire in the Road? Hmmmm... R&R Please! UPDATED (ch2)!
1. Jack Be Nimble

[Yes, so, this is the first fic I've posted in about three million years. But it's all good. I only own Jack. XD. Try to enjoy the little I have so far.]  
  
Leon entered the RCPD rather warily, and with good reason, he had no sooner set foot inside the door than there was the sound of a gun loading. Heavy breathing reached his ears next, and a masked sound of pain, his eyes searched the room frantically, locked onto the source of the sound, focused, he lifted his own gun to mirror his aggressor. Across the way, a girl no older than eighteen had leapt up onto the desk, holding a shotgun ready to shoot him right through the throat. 

"Who are you?" He barked. She seemed startled by this. Slowly, she lowered the firearm, her blue eyes huge, hollow-looking. 

"Who are _you_?" She countered. Her voice was weak, but willful, and he decided to answer, rather than have his head blown off.

"Leon Kennedy." He lowered his gun as well. "I was the new cop here. what happened? Today was… supposed to be my first day on the force..." He looked around, the station was empty; his voice echoed throughout the front hall in an eerily dissatisfying way. He heard a soft chuckle, and then the steady thud of boots on the linoleum floor. He looked towards the noise… the girl was approaching him.

"They came a few weeks ago." Her clothes were in a state of disarray, they once must have been a pair of very baggy black pants, but now they were torn, stained with blood and in places bleached white with medical gel. Through some of the tears, bite and scratch marks welling with blood and watery pus could be glimpsed. "I was one of the first to notice, I tried to stop it, but of course, nobody believed me. They locked me up." Her meager black shirt was ripped as well, a large gash, unwashed, surrounded by skin still crusted scarlet, could be seen on her stomach. Her thin shoulders and sides were hidden by the ammunition jacket she wore, but her face was pale and hollowed-out, her ash-blonde hair sweaty, only a few strands loose from the braid that hung to the hollow of her back. "They came and everyone died, or left." She repeated, all the while her voice remaining soft. 

"Who are they?" He asked. He knew, really. He needed to hear it said. He wanted to make sure he wasn't crazy. 

"I think you've seen them, and if you havn't you will." She let out a soft rumble of a chuckle, and gestured to the torn flesh of one of her forearms. "The undead. The vicious… walking… man-eating… freaking… Zombies." She seemed completely drained; her voice remained monotone, and after a moment she let her pale arm drop limp to her side. "I am the only one left." She put a shaky hand to her temple.

"How long have you been here?" He asked, stunned.

"Well… At first, about three weeks ago when they let me out of my cell to help set up a barricade, there were about twenty of us, but then, day by day, it started to get to them. I guess it's been about a week since Adam went. He was that last one, he couldn't take it… never could… Rather than let them eat him, he killed himself… same thing happened to most of the others, or they were killed. I've been holding out, though, I stay here." She looked at him a moment longer, and then went back behind the desk, hoisting her gun. "I've been afraid to go to the Darkroom, which was where we kept ammunition and medical supplies. Now that you're here, I think we'll be okay."

"Wait… what?" Leon held his hands up. "You want me to go fight zombies with you?"

"No. You get my back. Either that, or we wait here to die." She bowed her head momentarily, and then smiled. "I'd be lying if I said you'd be completely safe. But the odds are no better if you stay here. At least if we get there… we'll be safe until we work out a plan."

"'We'? I don't even know your name--"

"Uhhhhh…" A loud moan resounded from the door to the left of the entrance, followed by more of the same and then, the solid oak door began to shake in it's frame as the sound of many fists rang out. Slowly, the wood began to buckle in the center, splintering just the slightest bit at first, and then more, and more.

"It's Jack." She grabbed his arm. "Come with me. Now." And then she let go as the door burst from it's hinges, and a geat mass of the undead began to shamble out, uttering hideous moans as they came straight for the pair. Leon wasn't even fully aware of the situation until three loud shots rang out in his ears, rapid-fire, and three of the zombies buckled in a spray of blood, slumping to the floor. One Zombie was almost upon him when he regained his senses, he froze, and then Jack threw her body into his, sending him sprawling."Come ON!" Without thinking, the rookie cop yanked his gun from it's holster and jumped up, beginning to retreat, trailing his weapon on the creatures. Jack was still unloading her shotgun into them, but there were too many, too fast. One caught her by the arm and buried it's maw into the soft spot between her neck and shoulder. She ground her teeth together, letting out a harsh cry and grappling with it, trying to shove it away. 

"Bastard…" Leon swore, as more of the creatures shuffled towards Jack. He pulled the trigger on his handgun, and her agressor fell away in an explosion of brain tissue. She didn't hesitate, or even attempt to stop the bleeding of her wound, she whirled and ran, grabbing Leon by the wrist and not slowing until they had made it into the office down the hall on the right. She grabbed the handle with the hand of her injured shoulder and swung her gun up with the other, shoving the door open. Leon, meantime, had turned, and was dispatching of the horde of Zombies that was bearing down on them. None of it was clear, in his adrenaline-driven fog he was lost in the haze of mingling gunfire, shooting anything that moved towards him. "AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" 

"Leon!" Jack tossed her gun into the office(which was now Zombie-free, thanks to her sharpshooting) and grabbed her companion by the shoulders, yanking him backwards into the room, falling to the floor beneath him and slamming the door shut with her leg just as the first of their mangled foes were in arm's-length. 

"Nnngh…" Was all Leon could find to say. Jack wriggled out from under him, albiet a bit weakly, and got to her feet. After a moment of standing hunched over, one arm dangling at her side, slick with blood, she straightened, and grabbed the nearest chair she could find. Ignoring Leon's shocked form, she hefted it and lodged it beneath the doorknob, stepping back as the door shook once, twice, and then was still. From behind the blockade the sounds of many feet shuffling and decaying vocal chords shrilling could be heard. Jack swept her good arm over a table, knocking it's occupants-- party hats, upset plastic cups and bottles of wine-- aside, and began to push it towards the door as well.

"Wait." Leon said finally, getting up. "Let me do that. You're hurt."

"I'm fine." She grunted, shoving the table still further. Leon hoped that the wound wasn't serious; she was standing at an angle that made it hard for him to tell from where he stood. He knew that even if it wasn't, that in time, without treatment, she would slowly bleed to death, or die of infection. Surprisingly enough, she didn't really seem to care, and with one last push, the table slid snugly under the door handle against the back of the chair. "That should hold them out for a while." She mused, wincing a bit. The strain on her body must have split a few scabs; Leon could see tiny, thread-like trails of blood beginning to appear on her stomach and legs.

"Then you should have plenty of time to bind your wounds." Leon pointed out. Jack snorted, ignoring him, and started to poke through the lockers to the side of the door, which hung open and in dissaray. The cop sighed, shook his head, and nudged a bottle of wine with the tip of his boot. To his mild delight, it rolled, unbroken, and stopped against one of the large file cabinets lining the wall.

"At least it wasn't a total waste." She said suddenly, pulling a box of shutgun shells out of one of the mangled lockers and putting it in one of the pockets on her ammo vest. Leon nodded to himself, slipping the bottle into his pack. "Did you… unh." He looked up as Jack slumped foreward suddenly against the locker, her hands banging against the aluminum as she threw them out for balance. The girl hung on to the frame of it's unhinged door as if it was all that kept her from falling to the ground. Leon went to her, and put one cautious arm around her waist. She lifted her head and glared at him, her breath shallow and quick.

"Jack?"  
"I'm fine." She mumbled.  
"No you're not."  
"…Fair enough." And with that, her legs buckled beneath her and she slid towards the floor.

"It's okay, I've got you." Hoisting her up, Leon pulled one of her arms around his neck, bracing her against himself. Her face was pallid and drawn, bobbing as if barely able to stay up upon her shoulders. She snickered sardonically, but emptily.

"Guess I should have listened to you." She mused as he helped her back towards the small office to the back of the room. He had glimpsed a black leather couch through broken blinds over the window, he surmised her would be able to lay her there and treat her wounds if she let him. He kicked the body of a disposed Zombie aside for Jack, but it seemed to him that her gait was becoming less and less efficient nonetheless. 

"Jack? You're not going to pass out, are you? Come on, work with me."  
"Pass out… hah… passing out is… for pussies…" 

"Jack."

"Huh..?"

"Stay awake." She had stopped trying to walk and slumped over, her breathing still insubstantial. "Jack?" There was no answer. With a slight grunt, he hefted her, over-the-threshhold style, and made his way into the dark office, closing the door with his foot and laying the girl on the sofa. She blinked up at him with half-open eyes.

"Lock the door… we can sleep here." She murmured. He nodded, and did as she asked, kneeling beside her and unfastening her ammunition vest. She was compliant in her half-conscious stupor, moving her arms so he could slide it off easily. He bent over her wounded shoulder and winced, blood soaked the shoulder of her shirt, already it was forming a small puddle on the couch's surface. Luckily, it was shallow, but the zombie had taken a definite bite out of her. Viens showed like torn wires, tubular and gushing, muscle was just visible beneath the large chunk of dermis that had been ripped away. Blood had coated everything with a morbid shine. "Leon?"

"Yeah." He reached into his pack and fished out his first-aid box, opening it and removing a large roll of medical gauze, some antibacterial spray, and a small paper envelope filled with some sort of green paste. 

"You would have made a shitty cop anyway." Jack smiled briefly, and then her face meslted into an emotionless mask as she lost complete consciousness.

[Chapter 2 coming soon!]


	2. The Conspiracy

Jack woke up to the steady throb of her injured shoulder; the sound of Leon fiddling with his gun.

"What are you doing?" She lifted her head to see him sitting at the desk. 

"I'm reloading it."  
"Why?" She put a hand out and found her ammo vest gone, "Where's my…"  
"It's right there." He nodded to the tabe beside the couch, and the pile of ammunition and weaponry resting there.

"Okay."

"Jack.. Why were you here when all of this started?" She paused, rolled over onto her side and looked at him. She lifted an eyebrow, and then, quite blatently;

"I was being held here until I could get a court date." He blinked. "They thought I killed my father." Leon stopped, staring at her with round, shocked eyes.

"They what?"  
"I didn't… if that's what you want to know. I loved my dad. He was awesome. A scientist… William Birkin…" She smiled faintly. "I didn't kill him, though! Umbrella did, those fucking bastards… " Jack trailed off, sat up suddenly, and then stood, rotating her shoulder in a cautious fashion. "So, am I gonna live, Doc?" She changed the subject, smiled at him. He waited, and then decided not to push the subject.

"You should be fine. "Does it still hurt?" He asked, not looking up. Jack shrugged.

"Not really." She had been unconscious for about an hour, and in that time, in that silence, he had heard things… things he was afraid to think about. That, coupled with the noise of the fan, had drawn so many pictures in his mind that he believed he was going into shock. Jack, on the other hand, seemed in high spirits, she donned her vest and picked up her weapon, checking and then aiming it. "Do you think I'll be able to shoot without any problems?"  
"You should be… as long as you're careful." Leon felt an edge of anticipation creep into the room- she was ready to go already? After what had just happened? She reached for the knob. "Wait."  
"Hm?" She turned to look at him and he strode foreward.   
"Tell me what happened to your father." She sighed. 

"It doesn't matter."  
"It does."  
"Why?"  
"BECAUSE I WANT TO KNOW!" He shouted. She looked at him grimly, and then relented.

"My father was a scientist for umbrella… he was perfecting the thing that _made_ these zombies… a virus… I was an assistant at his office. An intern… My mom worked there too… and one day… we were… _attacked_, by men with helmets and guns… who wanted his work…" Leon could see tears in her eyes. "As soon as they'd gone…" She bit her lip, drew blood, and then spat as the bitter taste flooded her mouth. "…My mom gave me a gun and told me to go find my little sister… she went to find my dad… but the second I got out of there… I was arrested…"  
"But, if there was a hostile invasion, they must have known it wasn't you!"  
"Umbrella is an evil company." Jack hissed back. "They called the RPD and told them that _I_ was the one who had shot that place up… the cops were just in time to see me fleeing the scene with a weapon." Her voice was bitter. 

"And your mom?"  
"Dead, I would think. Just like my sister, Sherry. Zombies got 'em. So I guess you could say I inherited this nightmare… my dad's the one who first dreamt it up." She unlocked the door and left the office then, quickly.

It wasn't just her nightmare, though. It was everyone's.


End file.
